Surface maintenance vehicles and cleaning devices have a long history subject to gradual innovation and improvement toward improved and oftentimes automated performance in removing debris and contamination from floors. These vehicles and devices may be self-powered, towed, or pushed, and/or manually powered and may carry a human operator during cleaning operations. Such vehicles and devices include scrubbers, extractors, sweepers and vacuums, as well as combinations thereof, intended for cleaning, scrubbing, wiping and/or drying a portion of a substantially flat surface both indoors and outdoors. Many such vehicles and devices employ a squeegee assembly for removing solution from a floor which has been cleaned by application of a cleaning solution of water and a detergent in conjunction with scrubbing action of one or more moving brushes. Accordingly, the squeegee assembly of such prior art cleaning vehicles often mounts at or near the rear of the surface maintenance vehicle to direct the solution to a removal location where the solution (including suspended dirt, particles and contaminants) is removed. The cleaning solution is typically supplied to the floor surface through or near rotary scrub brushes operating from a lower portion of the vehicle. The squeegee assembly may include a squeegee supporting member of generally arcuate configuration with two squeegee blades spaced apart and affixed to the supporting member to promote consistent contact with the surface to be cleaned and wiped.
In some prior art cleaning vehicles having two squeegee blades, a vacuum source may couple to the wiping assembly to lift the loaded cleaning solution from the space between the blades to a remote reservoir or other collection unit. The squeegee assembly is often sufficiently wide to at least fully cover the path width of the scrub brushes and/or the wheels of the cleaning vehicle. Consequently, at least the ends of the squeegee assembly tend to be exposed at the sides of the vehicle and are therefore potentially very vulnerable to contact with stationary objects which might be encountered during operation of the vehicle during cleaning operations and when transporting the vehicle between cleaning operations. Solid contact between an end of a squeegee assembly and a stationary object such as, for example, a vertical support column, can result in substantial and costly damage to not only the squeegee assembly but also the surface maintenance vehicle itself resulting in downtime, costly repair and/or replacement of all or a part of the vehicle (as well as the stationary object) and in some circumstances causing damage or injury to the human operator of the vehicle as well.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,602,018, to Feeny et al., entitled “Squeegee Assembly Having a Non-Destructive Release Mode”, is incorporated by reference herein. Prior art squeegee assembly couplings use a compliant bushing that has a portion of the bushing captured by the squeegee assembly and the remainder of the bushing captured in the squeegee suspension. A threaded fastener is used to secure the bushing between the squeegee assembly and the squeegee suspension. The pocket profile in the squeegee suspension allows for the through hardware to be released through an open ended slot profile and also incorporates a pocket for the portion of the compliant bushing. The through hardware will hold the assembly together for normal operation. When the squeegee assembly strikes a rigid/semi-rigid object the bushing exits the open slot so as to free the squeegee assembly from the squeegee suspension.
The threaded hardware of the prior art is difficult and time-consuming to work with, and is a burden to work with as it is located in a dirty environment and the threads become contaminated. Thus, there is a need for an improved releasable coupling for a squeegee assembly which has improved features.